The hornet's nest

\
See, all the media types congregate outside the front of the Gossett team house before heading inside to interview Ralph Friedgen and players each day. Except it’s been hard not to notice the number of hornets buzzing around trash cans and anything else that might contain a sweet morsel.\

SEE RELATED:

\
That problem might have something to do with the gigantic hornet’s nest on the front of the team house. It’s in two parts, but they’re right next to each other and combined are probably bigger than a football. For you city folk, trust me, that’s big by hornet’s nest standards. And you can easily see the hornets on the outside of the nest, making it a little scary.\

\
Memo to Maryland: You might want to spring the change to get that sucker removed, especially if there’s going to be a tailgate on Sept. 1 in the nearby parking lot. Don’t do it for the media; do it for the big-pockets donors who would probably not enjoy those unexpected visitors with their ribs and pit beef.\

\
Anyway, avoiding the hornets is a far more important sport at this point than a lot of other things, like avoiding rankling Ralph Friedgen. (See, rankling Ralph can be a give-and-take deal; the same is not true of the stinging insects).\

\
One thing Friedgen was willing to give yesterday was an idea of what freshmen might play this year, and even make “the varsity” - Ralph’s antiquated term for a traveling roster. Tackle Bruce Campbell seems like a safe bet, and punter Travis Baltz is pretty much lock.\

\
As for the rest of the team, offensive lineman Tyler Bowen, wideout Quinton McCree and defensive lineman Dion Armstrong “have a chance.” One place a freshman could pop up is fullback, where Taylor Watson or Haroon Brown could push walk-on Steven Pfister for the backup role to Cory Jackson.\